Alan Stewart’s UK and Ireland family history news

News from Durham Records Online

I haven’t published any news from Holly Cochran of Durham Records Online for some time, so here’s her latest newsletter. You’ll note that many of the County Durham parish register entries contain more information than is usual elsewhere. These are from the so-called “Barrington registers”. The Right Reverend Shute Barrington, the Bishop of Durham, was responsible for the additional information being recorded. (His counterpart in Yorkshire was the Reverend William Dade.)

231 baptisms at St. Mary the Less, also known as St. Mary in the South Bailey, in the city of Durham, spanning 1787-1993, and 267 burials spanning 1762-1917. It was called St. Mary the Less because it was on the grounds of Durham Cathedral, which was also dedicated to St. Mary and was much larger. This tiny parish, only 4 acres, was inhabited primarily by officials of the church and of the College. In 1919 it became the college chapel for St. John’s College of the University of Durham.

706 baptisms and 442 burials at St. Mary le Bow in the city of Durham spanning 1762-1841. Transcriptions for 1796-1803 and 1813-1841 are from the Bishop’s Transcript with extensive cross-checking against the parish register (and birth dates added where they were missing from the BT); the rest were transcribed directly from the parish register.

In the baptisms, only fathers were named (except for illegitimate births) until 1790, but the good news is that the clerk started recording birth dates and mother’s maiden surnames in 1791, long before it was required in 1798. Here are some samples:

While we were in the register, we added 240 witnesses to our 102 marriages at Durham St. Mary le Bow for 1813-1837. If you previously purchased a marriage at St. Mary le Bow, you can view the witnesses by clicking My Previous Orders and reviewing the marriage.

Added the witnesses to the marriages at Stanhope St Thomas the Apostle for the years 1813-1819, giving you 682 new names to search. If you previously purchased a marriage at Stanhope in this period, you can view the witnesses by clicking My Previous Orders and reviewing the marriage.

Replaced the index to burials at Whickham St. Mary for 1720-1769 with full details, so those 7,036 burials are now instantly available, including 13 we missed the first time around. Some samples of burials in this period: